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Monday, April 21, 2014

Book Review: The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters is a novel set in New Hampshire during a time when an asteroid is hurling towards Earth.Hank Palace just made detective, he does not let his new job go to
his head, the police force is missing many people since it was announced
that asteroid 2011GV1 is hurling through space about to destroy life
on earth. The only thing which Palace can do is go about his daily job.

Encountering
a strange suicide, stranger than the usual mass of suicides happening
on a daily base, Palace decides to investigate and stumbles on a mystery
which only he can solve in a world where no-0ne is interested in
another death.

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters is set six months before the world is about to end. This is a fast paced novel, a fast read with an interesting premise.

A
meteor is coming; people are dying, leaving by the droves to accomplish
a “meteor bucket list”. The government has no idea what to do besides
clamp down and declare the US a police state. Our hero, a policeman,
seems to be handling the situation by simply doing his job.

The
murder / mystery is interesting but not the center, or the strength of
the story. The characters are also interesting, it takes awhile to get
to know them which is not necessarily bad, but are also not the strength
of the book. The book is strong with describing a society gone amok.

I
enjoyed the descriptions of a world which is about to end. How the
government is fruitlessly trying to maintain control and how the people
no longer care what t he government says or do. Many people start to
fulfill their "bucket list", while the government goes on a silly binge
of trying to maintain nonsensical laws (like the War on Drugs).

As usual it comes down to the have and have nots - those that have guns and those who don't.
This
is a good novel, a fast read, well written with an interesting premise.
The story about good people trying to maintain some sort of normalcy in
crazy times is a theme which we have seen a lot, however this book does
a great job telling the story.